Pounding The Rock To Victory
October 5th, 2017
Beast time
With all the ballyhoo about the Patriots’ garbage pass defense, which has now reached historic horrors during the Bill Belicheat era, the New England run defense is just as bad.
Teams are averaging a whopping 5.1 yards per carry against the Pats this season. And it’s not like there were a lot of big runs against them.
The Patriots have allowed just three carries of 20 or more yards through four games. That’s not good, but eight NFL teams have allowed more.
So here comes a Bucs team that ran the ball ok in the season opener, barely ran at all in Week 2 and was strong last Sunday against the Giants. Overall, Tampa Bay’s 3.8 yards per rush ranks tied for 19th best in the NFL.
Joe is very confident winning head coach Dirk Koetter will try to keep his team and his quarterback calm early and try to pound the rock. Frankly, the Bucs should be able to do it.
Bucs fans were told all offseason that the addition/return of J.R. Sweezy and the relocation of Ali Marpet to center was going to enhance girth and muscle and nasty on the O-line.
Well, here we are. The line is healthy, the Patriots or vulnerable, and the Bucs found a rhythm to their running game on Sunday.
It’s really time to pound the rock. As Joe wrote earlier, not only will that keep the Patriots’ weapons sidelined, it’ll go a long way to letting all of the Bucs’ many weapons thrive.
October 5th, 2017 at 12:19 pm
Simms will have a HUGE game….
October 5th, 2017 at 12:28 pm
AlteredEgo might be right, I think CS34 and AH11 will be big factors with bubble screens and short passes for big plays!!!!!
Go Bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
October 5th, 2017 at 12:35 pm
AH10*
October 5th, 2017 at 12:43 pm
Time of possession will be huge….go BUCS
October 5th, 2017 at 12:54 pm
Time of possession is key if we can run the ball effectively. Play Marty ball
October 5th, 2017 at 1:10 pm
I’ve always liked Quizz while some others have not at times. I know he has never been pro bowl material but I’ve never been a hater. Now that Doug’s back and our Oline is beginning to look better, I think that’s gonna be a really nice looking two tandem back field.
October 5th, 2017 at 1:16 pm
AltredEgo
Can we at one single point in one single game ship Simms out on the audible?
October 5th, 2017 at 1:19 pm
We all know the Bucs need to run the ball to have a shot at winning this game. Of course, so do the Patriots. In my opinion, we really have to avoid being predictable as to when we are going to run. I would love to see us run on some passing downs, and pass on some running downs, just to keep the Patriots off balance. One thing you can be assured of is that Bellicheat has studied us and his teams will be very prepared. If we are predictable, they will bury us. If we can keep them guessing, I like our chances. Of course a sack or two would be nice as well.
October 5th, 2017 at 1:41 pm
Isn’t Gronk out for the game today? I imagine Grimes will be on Cooks. Gonna need the young LBs to step up big in the intermediate passing game.
October 5th, 2017 at 1:53 pm
Who’s gonna be the starting running back tonight Joe?
Just want to hear you say it.
October 5th, 2017 at 1:58 pm
Hopefully we don’t get behind early, if we do Jamies will have to start slinging it and i sure hope that Hargraves won’t have to cover Gronk you got to gang tackle that mofo if he does play
October 5th, 2017 at 2:29 pm
when were we a great running team last 2 years?
which nfl team is a great smashmouth running team?
those are in the 80s
this is the new nfl normal…its a passing offense
we are going to start at the 20 and grind 80 yards 3 times this game? (still only 21 pts) when did anybody see that ever happen?
if we get too many 3rd and shorts, we are going to have to punt because koetter is going to playcall to the gut
“Hey Koetter, ….short passing attack”
Kobe Faker
October 5th, 2017 at 2:29 pm
An article about running the football tonight – yet no mention of fresh legs Dougie’s potential impact?
Curious…..
October 5th, 2017 at 2:35 pm
Ideally yes. I don’t believe in keeping it away from other offense in the sense that they get just ad many possessions one eay or another. You can rwally only prolong it. We do need to keep the defense healthy and help open things up downfield. One way or another we need to be as efficient as possible with our drives. Every punt or turnover likely means we fall behind by 7 unless we can get some turnovers of our own. Whether thst is running or passing or a good balance I guess we will see what works
October 5th, 2017 at 2:35 pm
Gronk will likely play tonight. Listed as questionable with thigh issue.
October 5th, 2017 at 2:38 pm
I think the Pats are going to stack the box, make Bucs one dimensional and force Jameis to beat them.
October 5th, 2017 at 2:39 pm
Take the NY template and do the exact same thing against the PATS.
@Pickgrin hahaha Joe getting so much shade right now, ya’ll need to chill.
October 5th, 2017 at 3:13 pm
Anything that keeps Brady off the field is a winning strategy to me. I suspect we will run at them early and force them to stack the box. Once they do we start to run play action in 2 TE sets with Brate and OJ. Their LBs will not be able to cover them and play run.
October 5th, 2017 at 3:41 pm
I say run ride the crap out of Martin. If he slows or needs a breather, then we pound Barber. Martin had plenty of time to heal up before next game.
October 5th, 2017 at 4:04 pm
They MUST run it to help keep Brady off the field.
It cannot be a straight up shootout, Even though I think they would have a chance. It would just be much better if they run a lot and then blow them
out with play action
October 5th, 2017 at 4:57 pm
Bucs have averaged only 63 offensive plays per game versus 73 for our opponents. Not good … not good at all. We’ll need to at least reverse those numbers to have a chance of beating the Pats. You hit the nail on the head Joe with your “It’s really time to pound the rock.” If we can get say 75 offensive snaps, would love to see us run it 30-35 times (even more if we’re doing it really well), throw short/intermediate passes about that same number of times, and the rest bombs away. If we run that number of times & if Jameis can hit on 70% or so of his passes we should own the TOP. Control the clock & don’t turn it over. And PLEASE … score TDs tonight. Screw the FGs.
October 5th, 2017 at 5:16 pm
A lot of posters here make me want to throw up with all this patriot talk. I am a firm believer that champions never ever lose. You have to beat them, but they don’t lose. So I say PHUCQ THE PATRIOTS! BUCS TAKE WHAT’S YOURS!
BUCS WIN!!!